Singing
and playing the guitar was something Velma Hood did every single day.

Music was something she always loved, even as a
very small child. Her daughters will tell you that never a day went by
without her picking her guitar and singing an old gospel song or two.
Her favorites were old ballads, gospel music, and of course, Mother
Maybelle songs. Her name was Velma Brown Hood, someone whose voice
sounded a lot like Mother Maybelle Carter. And when Velma passed away
this past August, she sang at her very own funeral.

Born August 6, 1924, in Jackson County, Velma was one of nine
children of Samuel Lafayette (Fate) Brown and Sarah Amelia (Sally)
Masters Brown. She had a twin sister, Thelma. Their home was in the Old
Antioch Community of Jackson County. The Brown family moved to Overton
County in 1942, and settled in the Holly Springs Community. Velma and
Thelma were the youngest of the nine children whose names were Verdia,
Inez, Ella Mae, Eva, Lester, Albert, and Clyde. None of the nine
children attended high school.

In 1948, Velma married Clarence Hood from Highland Mountain. After
they married, the young couple lived in the house with his parents,
Floyd and Lou Hood, and in 1965, they moved to town. By this time, three
daughters had been added to their family, Claudette, Paulette and
Sharlotte.

During the time the Hood family lived on Highland Mountain, Claude
Ramsey was a regular visitor at their home. He would stop by their house
to rest on his way to Copelandís store, and then on the way back from
the store, he would stop and visit a little while too.

Velma worked at the Livingston Shirt Factory until it closed, and had
various other factories jobs after the closing of the shirt factory. In
addition to farming, Clarence was employed at the box factory in
Livingston. In August of 1967, as Velma was getting ready for work one
morning, she called out to Clarence, who had not yet gotten up, to get
up and get ready for work, that it was getting late. When he didnít
respond, she went to check on him and found he had died in his sleep. He
was only 43 years old, and had suffered a massive heart attack. She was
left alone to complete the raising of their three daughters which she
somehow managed to do on an income of less than $4,000.00 a year.

And even with just a factory job to support her family, her daughters
say that they never did without, that somehow their mother provided for
them. Paulette remembers that the only thing she ever asked for that she
didnít get while they were growing up was a pony. Several stores in town
ran accounts for Velma, and she allowed her daughters to charge things
at these stores, and each pay day, she went by and paid for whatever had
been charged out of her shirt factory check.

Velma was a member of the Three Forks Baptist Church. She attended
regularly until she wasnít able to drive anymore, some three or four
years before she died. She read her Bible every day. Sharlotte remembers
how they had to be in church every Sunday, but sometimes even little
kids didnít want to go, but it was understood, it you were Velma Hoodsí
girl, you would go anyway.

One of the things Velma was well known for was her great sense of
humor and for her sayings. She had a saying for everything. It was not
until she had passed away that her daughters found two notebooks in her
handwriting she had kept that were filled with quotes she must have
thought should be written down. A couple of examples of what the
notebooks contained are: "If a task is once begun, never leave it till
its done, be the labor great or small, do it well, or not at all."
Another reads - "He who stretches the truth too far will find it snaps
back in his face."

Velma was a great source of entertainment for the women she worked
with. She was still employed at the age of 75. She was lovingly referred
to as "Hood" by her fellow workers and others who were close friends.
She took great pride in her personal appearance, and would dress each
day with careful attention to how she looked. Pretty jewelry and scarfs
were included with whatever dress she picked out each day, and never
ever did she wear pants. High heels were also something she loved to
wear.

Sharlotte described herself as a person who could make her mother
madder "than anyone on the face of the earth." She said her mother told
her that she (Sharlotte) reminded her of Clarence Hood and as long as
she was alive, he would never be dead.

Paulette told me her mother first picked up a guitar when she was
only four years old, and that she didnít think she ever put one down
after that. She played the guitar every day of the world. She went on to
say that if someone called her mother just about any time of the day and
asked what she was doing, her reply would be "just pickiní this ole
guitar and singiní a little." Paulette took her on two occasions to have
her motherís picking and singing recorded from which CDs were made. It
was one of those CDs with her motherís recorded music that was played at
her funeral. The preacher who held the service told those who attended
that Velma finally had the last word.

Velmaís oldest daughter, Claudette, lives in Florida, and visited
with her mother by telephone every day. Claudette came home to visit her
mother for a week in May of this year, and took her mother to visit lots
of friends and relatives during that visit. She described her mother as
a person who would literally give someone the shirt off her back. She
said on many occasions, her mother had given away clothes to others
after being told something she was wearing looked nice. She would
launder an outfit and tell the person she was giving it to that she was
tired of it. Claudette says she can only hope to be as loved and
respected as much as her mother was.

Sharlotte told me she thinks she was born to the best parents on the
face of the earth, and that she couldnít have had a better childhood.
She said her mother called her daughters The Three Stooges, and she
loved each one very much.

Pauletteís husband, Willie Roy Sidwell, was Velmaís favorite
son-in-law, and she let everyone know that was the case. If Willie Roy
and Paulette took Velma something from their garden, she always told
everyone Willie Roy brought it to her. She and Willie Roy never
exchanged a single cross word with each other.

Judy Crabtree described her good neighbor Velma as a very special
person, and someone who never complained. She and Velma talked on the
phone several times a day. Carol Gilpatrick got acquainted with Velma
through Paulette, and enjoyed very much that special friendship. They
had many good visits over the years, and shared lots of laughter.

A trip to Tunica, Mississippi was how Velma celebrated her 80th
birthday, a gift from her daughter, Sharlotte. Many years before, she
had taken trips to California and Las Vegas, and one of the things she
enjoyed most about each of these trips was playing the slot machines.

Even though I never had the opportunity to meet Velma Hood in person,
it is surely evident to me that she continues on in the daughters she
left behind. That sense of humor and quickness to tell you just exactly
how things stand is alive and well in the girls. Velma Hood passed away
on August 29 of this year. She had just celebrated her 80th
birthday on August 6th. Sharlotte said she didnít think her
mother was afraid to die, "she just hated to leave us." She may be
physically gone, but her voice remains on the CD doing what she loved to
do most. It will be cherished and treasured by her daughters, her five
grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren for many years to come.